There is no one simple thing to do to change our consumption patterns, because the set of problems we’re addressing just isn’t simple. But everyone can make a difference, and the bigger your action the bigger the difference you’ll make.

Watch The Story of Stuff, read our review of the film, and explore our selected YES! articles that address the complex issues that relate to our materials economy and how we can choose to live differently.

Here are two dynamic organizations that offer your students opportunities and engaging resources to express and act on what they believe. Encourage your students to take on a service-learning project or submit a personal essay to "This I Believe."

Images, photos, and pictures stimulate the mind. For the viewer, they offer a chance to connect and question. They also offer potential for play and imagination, and pulling the observer into purposeful messages.

Here are lessons plans and curriculum to help your students better understand the cause and effects of the current housing upheaval, the concepts of work (what kind of work is paid?) and workplace, and definitions of wealth.